The Biden administration announced a plan to expand tuition breaks for future teachers and remove GPA requirements for grant recipients in hopes of providing access to “students of color.”
The Department of Education oversees the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) grant program, which provides tuition breaks for students obtaining degrees in education who commit to teaching in “high-need fields and underserved schools” for four years after graduation. The Biden administration, with the support of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, announced that the annual grant amount for third and fourth-year students will double to $8,000 per recipient.
Biden’s plan will also remove the existing GPA requirements for recipients in the hopes of increasing access for students of color.
“The proposed plan also aims to increase the access that students from low-income backgrounds and students of color have to comprehensive teacher preparation,” a press release from the Education Department reads.
The plan includes an additional $2.8 billion investment in programs such as “year-long, paid teacher residency programs,” which the Biden administration claims will help enroll more “teacher candidates of color” and will have a greater impact on teacher retention.